At last an electric car with solar panels

Not robot related but I'm very stoked about reserving a new Nissan Leaf electric car.  It's perfect for my wife and I with it's 100 mile range.  For longer trips we'll use my truck but this is one cool car.  The model I reserved has solar panel fins on the back of the car for taking advantage of our sunny Florida weather.  At this stage it's not a perfect electric solution (pretty close though) but it looks like Nissan is committed to constantly improving this technology.

To understand why I'm so enthusiastic about owning an electric car you can rent the movie "Who killed the electric car" to see the passion those who owned (leased) a General Motors EV1 completely electric car.  Rent the movie from netflix for an interesting insight on electric car ownership. 

Unfortunately it will be at least six months before delivery of the Nissan Leaf .  After tax rebate it's around 25,500 for the low end model and 27,500 for the upgraded version with the solar panels.  Leasing is also available with $1900 down (approximately) and around $349.00 a month for 3 years.

Science center event and Giraffe sculpture pictures

After a few weeks of welding cutting and grinding I finally have a couple of giraffe pictures. I'm very pleased with the results so far but I realize there is still much to do.

I recently purchased a miller mig welder so I've been alternating between the oxy/act and mig. Both have their places. The mig can tack steel in place like a charm. Saves so much time.

In other news R2D2 was visited by his favorite groupies (Jeremy and fam) at the St. Petersburg Science center on Saturday night. The science center was showing the Clone Wars movie so R2 and an imperial officer (Magnum) patrolled the halls for a couple hours. A good excuse to get out of the house and do something fun.

You really can do anything if you put your mind to it (especially if you have internet)

The world sure has changed in the last 12 years. The internet has so much to offer in the way of learning new things. Youtube videos have an almost unlimited selection of how to videos made by amateur videographers who are often passionate about what they're demonstrating. Some of the videos are just so so but others are outstanding.

I've spent a lot of time watching welding how to videos and metal sculpture videos from a lot of different artists and craftsman. I also subscribe to smartflix.com which has how to videos you can rent. All this information has certainly accelerated my welding and metalworking education. For all the bad things the internet spreads, the benefits almost make up for that.

I've been practicing with the stick welder that was given to me and it's starting to make sense. Tonight I used it for 3 critical areas on the battle droid and it worked very well. Yesterday I was experimenting with it and thin sheet metal but was only partially successful. Still playing with the different amperages and trying to get it just right. But it's pretty close.

Today I received some steel hemispheres in the mail which I'm using for elbows and knees. The elbows have been welded to the battle droid and the lower arms had some detail added to them. Still a lot to do but it's a great learning project.

Two of a kind

The attached picture was taken of my very favorite Christmas present which was made by our sweet 16 year old niece. She named the two pictures "Two of a kind" after us. And I have just the perfect place in our robot room to hang them.

How lucky can one guy be?

It's a wonderful wife .... even though ...

You can be sure you have a great robot loving wife when she returns from Target and hesitantly tells you she must be losing her mind but she saw a "robot dome" on sale and she's one who can never turn down a good sale. She picked up two nice steel domes/bowls with a cool look for only $10.00. Very nice. She said I must be rubbing off on her.

Even though ...

This weekend much has been completed on the battle droid. Working on the hands took much more time than I anticipated. The fingers were attempted with 4 different types of materials until I finally came up with a method I was happy with. My wife thought the fingers were a little long and suggested the last digits of each fingers should be removed.

So tonight after making a lot of racket in the garage grinding, cutting and whatever, I came into the house suited up with all my work clothes, safety glasses and all on and said "I hope you're satisified". Surprised she looked at me and said huh? I said "Didn't you hear the screams?" By this time she was starting to worry something happened and said "What happened". So I give her this serious look as I open up my welding gloves and show her three robot fingers that I cut off. As she breathed a sigh of relief, I reminded her that it was her idea to have the third digits of the robot fingers severed from the poor battle droid. Very painful for the droid. I guess you had to be there. As I get older, it's harder and harder to pull one over on the wife so at least I had a good chuckle. She on the other hand may have other ideas about it.

So many things were done to the battle droid I can't even list them all. But the arms and wrists are totally pose able. The upper arms had details added to them and the wrists and knuckles were created with my new brake by experimentation.

In summary. It was a very fun weekend. Once during lunch I knocked something over and my wife looked at me and said I was eating so fast I was like a little kid who couldn't wait to get back out and "play" in the garage. And you know what ... she was right.

Speechless

I had so much fun tonight, It's difficult to put a title on this blog entry.

When I got off work today there was a box on the front porch. Oh and guess what was in that box. THE PLASMA CUTTER !!! My new Hypertherm powermax 30 was just sitting on the front porch waiting for me to come home. I'm thankful it didn't mysteriously walk away for that couple hours it sat unattended.

So with very little looking at documentation, I set everything up and then realized the 220 plug didn't match the outlet that was just installed. No problem... it's a good excuse to try out 110v mode. Which worked just fine. I cut straight lines, thick steel, thin steel, circles, free form (I spelled my name in steel) and just plain wild cutting bliss. Yes I said it ... cutting bliss. I must be part pyromaniac because I just love creating molten metal pools.

So tonight I used my new tool to sever the wrists of the battle droid so I can pose the hands in more natural angles than the flat look I originally had. After removing the hands, I experimented with the metal brake to create an outside knuckle area of the hands and wrist. The results were very nice so I welded them into place and will probably do something very similar for the upper and lower arms. The dies in the brake are removable so you can just press down on a part of the part you're working on to make ridges.

I played around with the laser circle cutter but came to the conclusion it would be easier in many instances to grab something (non flamable) circular and drag the plasma cutter around it. So I now have two circles for the elbows which are more uniform than the free form ones I cut by hand. I used 14 gauge steel for them which would have been virtually impossible for me to cut with my tools. Not any more though.

Twas the night before Christmas .....

Just spent a day with some fabulous people in Ft. Meyers at the local Children's Hospital. It was fantastic. Garry Demler (aka Santa trooper) has been doing this event for the past 7 years with his wife and son. They put a lot of smiles on kids faces visiting them in the hospital on Christmas eve and giving out some nice presents. It was a great event and a nice way to spend the day. R2 ran well and told me he had loads o fun.

Plasma cutter

After (too) many hours of research, I finally purchased a Hypertherm Powermax 30 plasma cutter. A good quality tool that's made in America with excellent technology. I was surprised you can drag the tip along the surface you're cutting with no problems. Looks like it will work well and as Jay Leno says, "You'll have enough stuff from China soon enough" so try to support American companies while you still can.

Tools tools tools

Now that it looks like there will be more than a couple metal sculpture projects, I've decided to invest in some tools to assist in that goal. The first item was a metal forming rawhide sandbag with metal working tools that was recommended to me by Brad. I've used it a few times already and it looks like a handy tool for forming interesting curves in steel.

The next tool I recently brought home came in a large wooden crate and was loaded into my truck by a forklift. It was so heavy I had to use my truck crane to get it out of the crate and positioned on my workbench. I just hope I never have to move it. As shop space is at a premium, I had to move my semi useless band saw to another shelf. Oh I guess I should mention what type of tool this is. It's a heavy duty 30" Metal Brake / Shear / roller. And it works pretty good for up to 20 gauge sheet metal. The brake makes nice angles ..... so much better than that other cheap @%#@#% that I had. Having the right tools makes such a difference.

The next item on my tool wish list is a plasma cutter. The benefits of a plasma cutter are numerous for what I do. One of the things I'm very sensitive to is the noise levels in my shop and how they relate to the neighbors. Lately I try to do noisy operations during the afternoon and try to limit them. Cutting metal is a very noisy operation using saws. Plasma cutters are pretty silent other than the noise of the compressor.

The dilemma I have is which unit to purchase. I prefer buying an American made cutter but not sure where this purchase will go as they are expensive.

Any suggestions ?????

Oh and another new tool (or should I say very old tool) is one that was given to me by a friend. He said it's been in his attic for years. It's an old budget stick welder that's so old it says "made in Italy". Even googling the Jet 140 doesn't show anything so it's old. When I get 220 wired in my welding area I'll start experimenting with it.

Why I recommend blogging

It's been awhile since I posted but it's been busy around here. Before I get into the why of the title of this blog (Why I recommend Blogging), I want to say that "I LOVE WELDING !!" The first couple tries were rocky and being an impatient kind of guy I got disappointed pretty quickly. I posted a blog entry and then deleted it as I was about to give up on trying to weld thin gauge metal. And now I'll come to the "Why I recommend blogging".

Once again, I received some good advice from a reader of this blog that completely changed my outlook on welding. I was able to figure out that welding thin gauge metal is no big deal and actually pretty easy once you practice and learn to keep from burning holes into the thin metal. Which still happens but I'm able to fill the holes with filler rod. Each time I do it, it becomes more enjoyable and I get better at it. The advice I get from friends has really taught me so many skills. Gary, Mike, and of course my friend Brad have helped me in many situations (as well as a few others I didn't mention). And that's just another reason to publish a blog. And I'll say it again .... I LOVE welding. Especially acetylene but I'm also using my wire feed to do initial spot welds.

I decided to experiment creating a metal life size battle droid as my first project. I used my cardboard droid partially as a template although I'll be taking a million liberties on the project. It's more an art sculpture instead of a battle droid. It's been shaping up nicely and I'm having fun which is the whole point of what we should be striving for.

In other news, my new young builder friend Jeremy and his nice mom and dad stopped by our home yesterday. Jeremy actually brought me one of his home made droids !!! It will be proudly displayed in our droid room. Jeremy is just a sweet kid and fun to talk to. He brought me some drawings he did of an R3 and was explaining about an R9 unit. He knew a lot about clone wars which I wasn't up on. He's also looking forward to seeing R5-PQ which he brought up numerous times after I showed him a picture.

The attached pictures of the sculpture in progress aren't too good. But once I get the hip base finished (in one of the pictures), I'll attach the chest and hips. Still not sure how to make arms but that will be fairly easy. The nice thing about welding is you don't have to worry about different adhesives to hold stuff together. Welded steel has so much more strength.

Thanks to everyone reading this that has commented and given me good suggestions. I don't comment back all the time but they are all greatly appreciated !

Troops

Troops (Cops/Star Wars Spoof)

A Broken Machine | MySpace Video

Welding robot bones

I finally had a little time to start experimenting with the acetylene torch this week. First thing I figured out is the acetylene tank was just about empty. So yesterday in a downpour I exchanged it for a full one.

After reviewing my "how to" video to make sure I didn't blow up the house, I started adjusting the valves and pressure making very sure to keep the acetylene pressure below 15 pounds. After accidentally going far into the DANGER DANGER ZONE 3 times, I finally figured out the CORRECT way to use the valves. And lived to blog about it. Having a full tank makes all the difference in the world. Torch is very hot now.

So tonight I experimented by creating some robot bones for upcoming sculptures. Wanted to try welding copper to steel and use brazing rod. Surprisingly strong compared to what I was expecting. Also did some spot welds with a thin gauge of steel and practiced filling in holes with filler rod. Most of the welds came out pretty good and even though a few were pretty ugly, they were strong.

I like the idea of using acetylene instead of wire feed. The acetylene is a little slower but more versatile. Plus less intimidating. Don't need a big honking welding mask and the sparks don't fly as far (so I don't set my workbench on fire). Plus you can texture metal with an acetylene torch which makes some pretty interesting effects for metal sculpture. I can now picture about a million projects this would be good for. My poor wife ....

Another good thing is the weather is starting to cool down a tad here in Florida. So I can wear long sleeve shirts and pants while welding without getting heat stroke.

Time to laugh

A friend just sent me this link and it cracked me up. Enjoy

Video of hydrocephalus event

Helping out a fellow builder

We had a last minute opportunity to bring R2 to a walkathon that benefits a Hydrocephalus support group. The woman who started the group has a son with hydrocephalus and he just so happens to have a passion for building robots. Check out the following link to see a room full of robots he built. Well after seeing that, how could I not show up with R2 and talk robots with the little guy. And was he sweet. He spent the better part of the day next to R2 and helped keep R2 safe from people who tried to touch him. It was a joy to be there. And the members of the 501st and Rebel legion who attended were outstanding in the way they interacted with the crowd. Words do not describe the fun we all had. I'll have to post some video when I get a chance. Mike who was the imperial officer stood by with all the kids and kept R2 in line. Listening to him and R2 go back and forth was priceless. The kids loved it. Thanks to Lori and the rest of the group. It was a great time.

When it came time for the walkathon, R2 accompanied Jeremy in the front of the group.

This is the pre-event video of Jeremy filmed by Fox news. The anchorman and his family were also at the event on Saturday.
Click here to see the Fox Video

Star Wars in Concert - St. Pete Times Forum

Words cannot describe how fun the Star Wars in Concert event was. Hanging out with the 501st and Rebel Legion was the highlight of the trip. We met some very nice people and had a ball. Out of all the places R2 has been, this was definitely the most crowded. After the doors opened, it was so crowded that you could not move at all. When it was time to leave, we all lined up against the wall and were led out by an officer of the 501st in a loud commanding voice announcing "Make way for Lord Vader". That parted the crowd pretty good although several members were cut off and separated from the group by people asking for pictures.

After the event was over we were told we could stay around for about a half hour so Yvonne and I brought R2 back up to the display area. At first we couldn't get through and then a supervisor at the Forum told us he'd get us there. He cleared a path to the exhibit and we found a little corner to put R2 as he was surrounded by picture takers. As the crowd closed in, you couldn't even move. People started smashing up against me with my controller and I worried about someone triggering R2 to move into someone. That's when I started doubting our decision to return. Luckily I eventually found a safe place to stand where I could watch R2 and keep the controller from being bumped.

A great time and we met some super people.

Post Halloween 2009

R2 is currently sitting in the garage on the charger after a long night of trick er treating. R2 drove a good mile and ran for over 4 hours continuous. I was pleasantly surprised this new battery I recently purchased for the Spektrum transmitter held out so long. It still had juice after 4 hours.

Some of the terrain was a challenge. The reflector discs in the road stuck out and once R2 hit one and was really jarred. A few cobblestone areas and speed bumps were obstacles R2 had to be watchful of. I had to run R2 in the street because the sidewalks were too confining with the amount of people out. There were some big Halloween block parties around here and every year it gets more and more popular. Running him in the street was a little challenging when the mobs surrounded R2 and cars were trying to get by. But the cars were driving slowly and it never was a big problem.

My nephew Joey was a Jawa but the temperatures in Florida have been hotter than normal lately and after about 20 minutes, his hood and gloves came off. He looked more like a monk than a jawa but I don't blame him. It was really hot last night. I noticed a lot of kids had their masks off. Joey was a good sport and waited up for R2 when the mobs surrounded him (which was every couple minutes). The reactions were incredible when people realized R2D2 was tooling down the road in their neighborhood. I answered the same questions about a million times. Where did you get him "I built him" How much was he "I can't let that be public knowledge because if my wife finds out I'm in big trouble". How long did it take to build him .......

The kids were all pretty good. One little guy was completely engrossed with R2 and I detected a future builder with him. The force was strong with that one. His mom told me he wanted to be R2 but they couldn't come up with a costume so he was spiderman instead.

R2 performed flawlessly although having the rear door installed now made it harder to communicate to the CF3 sound system and transmitter. It's harder to get a signal through the aluminum so we may need to tweak the antenna configuration again.

Oh and I almost forgot the funniest part of last night. A little guy dressed as Darth Vader was afraid of R2 and it took his parents a few minutes to coax him over to take a picture.

Halloween 2009

Pumpkin carved, Batteries charged, and R2 ready to go out trick er treating tonight. Our robot pumpkin turned out pretty cool although I can't take credit for the idea. It's similar to a pumpkin I saw on one of my favorite websites (Robotsnob.com) a week or so ago. Very appropriate for our house even though I don't plan on having any other robots out tonight other than R2. And R2 will be out in the neighborhood. I was going to drag B9 or Robby over to the front door but my back's a little sore and yanking them monsters around wouldn't do it much good so our little robot pumpkin is going to have to fill in.

I also removed the bus stop robots from the front porch to keep kids from yanking their arms and legs off. Most of the kids are very good but it just takes one or two to mess things up. One kid last year started wildly beating R2 over the dome with his bag of candy. Sugar high no doubt but at least an adult stopped him before he did any damage. Tomorrow we'll be bringing R2 to The "Star Wars in Concert" which is endorsed by Lucasfilms. We'll be with the 501st which will be a ball and we're looking forward to it.

Out of the country for awhile

October was a busy month and not much done in the building department. We did a last minute trip to Ireland and had a great time. With Halloween coming up, I decided to redo the back door because it just didn't fit correctly. There was a gap and it rode a little too high. Plus the paint job on the rear door wasn't very good and it needed to be sanded down and prepped better.

This was on my mind for the last couple weeks so the first thing I did when I got back was removed the power coupler from the rear door as that was my number one suspect on why the door rode too high. Nope, that wasn't the culprit. It turns out the pegs I have in the frame that the door slides onto were hitting the bottoms of the coin returns. So after removing the pegs I cut about 3/8 of an inch from them and now the door fits much better. The power couplers will be fairly easy to re-attach with a fresh tube of glue.

Doors are primed and ready for some final coats of paint. This weekend R2 went back out to the garage and to go for a long walk to do last minute checking of the drive systems. All systems go for Halloween.

The inspiration

Markku Lahdemaki created the beautiful robot artwork which was the inspiration for my next big robot project. I "hope" to build robots similar to his design although I may take some liberties in a few areas and the finish unfortunately won't be shiny like his. It would be nice for them to be shiny but being outdoor robots they probably will end up with a greenish patina finish. Plus I was thinking about putting army boots on them for the feet. Not sure how that would weather in the Florida moisture though.

It would be nice to build a family of them for our backyard. One robot (the Dad) will be pushing an old fashioned push lawn mower while the other two (mom and daughter) will be holding Flower pots with flower in them. So that's the plan at this stage which can be completely changed around depending upon my whims and building abilities. The following are pictures by the very cool artist Markku Lahdemaki which were my inspiration. His website is at http://www.markkuphoto.com if you are interested in purchasing his artwork.